Posts Tagged ‘Germany’

I can feel the damp chill of Autumn encroaching as the last rays of a surprisingly vibrant summer ebb away. At last the British skies can get back to what they do best: ineptly ferrying about sacks of floating water. Excuse my while I pull on this cardigan and open up the umbrella of news.

Dan Smith Does Not Win EPT

The world is in shock after two EPT events concluded without Dan Smith winning either of them. Frenchman Laurent Polito caused an upset in Barcelona by taking down the €10,000 High Roller, only for Mikalai Pobal to complete the anomaly by rudely winning the Main Event for just over €1 million. [Poker News Daily]

Play It Again Sam

If you’ve ever wanted to feel like Doyle Brunson, but don’t fancy ageing a thousand years and putting on a stetson, chances are you’ve taken the opportunity to “run it twice” a few times. Full Tilt added it as an online feature a few years ago and, probably non-coincidentally, PokerStars are set to unveil their own version in the next few days. [Poker Fuse]

888 Hitting the Jackpot

Since Black Friday, it’s been mostly doom and gloom so far as online poker revenue goes, so it’s nice to hear about a company doing well off the back of its digital offering. 888 is reporting a big increase in first-half earnings, with its online poker division contributing heartily to that figure. I’m not sure if those numbers include subsidiary Dragonfish, but their recent successes could be playing a part in this uptick. [Reuters]

German Licensing Confusion

The dissident German province of Schleswig Holstein is being welcomed back into mainstream Teutonic legislation, which puts the online poker companies they recently granted licenses to in a tricky spot. The German Treaty does not allow for such licenses to be issued, although given that a handful have already been given out it is not clear whether or not the local government will be legally obligated to honour them. [Gambling Kingz]

Ground Control to Major Kyllönen

I thought that Finland was already in space, so I’m pretty surprised to hear all the hubbub surrounding Jens Kyllönen spending €160,000 on a trip to the stars in 2014. Circus man Guy Laliberte also has a ticket as a part of a journey to his Martian homeworld. [4Flush]

Before I go, I’d encourage you all to take a look at Phil Galfond’s fraternal dissection of Viktor Blom. It’s not really news, but it’s rare to hear the very top pros talk about each other in detail and even rarer for that pro to be a clear and engaging writer. Click this now.

International Poker Tournaments, Fair Game for German Betting, Sorel's Health Contest, and Cake!

While we’re all on tenterhooks over the mooted Stars/Tilt deal, the poker world refused to wait quietly. The felt globe kept on spinning and all sorts of interesting goings on have been flung into the ether. From my secret moon base, I have collected the facts and figures in a giant space-net, filtering out all the Americo-centric sludge you’ve been hearing so much about. Here’s the skinny from the rest of the world.

Lots of Tournaments

Be aware, some big international poker tournaments are on the horizon. In July, the World Poker Tour beings its 11th season in the island nation of Cyprus. I went to Cyprus once. I spend most of my time playing tennis on an army base. It was very hot, so if you’re looking to take part in the $4,000 + $400 main event take some sunscreen with you and maybe a tennis racquet. [Poker News Report]

It will probably be just as hot at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes, where the Partouche Poker Tour Season 5 finale is scheduled to occur. You can read about all the events in French here. An English version of the schedule doesn’t appear to exist just yet.

The Isle of Man Gets Gaming

There aren’t any live tournaments taking place on the Isle of Man – a tiny island off the coast of Britain – but there might be soon. A bill which would permit non-casino venues access to temporary gambling licenses is making its way through the island’s legislative bodies. This might not seem like the most newsworthy piece of information, until you accept two facts. Firstly, the Isle of Man is the home of PokerStars, who know a thing or two about running poker tournaments. Secondly, the island is well known for housing exceptionally rich people who would rather not pay as much tax as everyone else. I’ll let you do the math on those two pieces of information. [Card Player]

Betfair in Germany

British bookmakers Betfair have become the first overseas gambling company to acquire a shiny new German gambling license. The German state of Schleswig Holstein dissented from the other 15 principalities by enacting liberalised gaming laws. Licenses may now be granted to any company which is already established within the European Union. Betfair will be required to pay 20% tax to the local government on all profits made in Schleswig Holstein. [Reuters]

Mizzi’s Health Kick

It should hopefully not come as a shock to learn that the sedentary lifestyle of a poker player is not conducive physical fitness. After Black Friday bumped him from his computer, Canadian pro Sorel Mizzi committed himself to a regimen of healthy living. He is now extending the same challenge to every gelatinous lump with a fondness for rivered straights. Players who undergo the most successful fitness regimes will receive in depth personal tutoring from Sorel. Check out his lengthy blog post for the full judging criteria and all sorts of other nonsense. [Sorel Mizzi]

Lock Poker Loves Cake

I like the idea of a cake revolution. It sounds delicious! Sadly, this story is only about the Cake Poker Network relaunching itself as Revolution Gaming. All under the aegis of Lock Poker, who announced this week that they are buying Cake and leaving their former home on the Merge Network. The new Lock-Cake combo is set to launch on June 1st. [Poker News]

All I can think about now are delicious baked goods, so the news will have to end here while go off in search of a revolutionary Battenberg. Keep your eyes peeled for any other dissident bakery produce and I’ll be back next week with another Wider World of Poker.

Poker Law, Politics, Business, and Crime

We spend so much time reading about poker legal developments here at Pokerati that we sometimes forget to share the relevant news before the cycle turns to something else … and then I complain that our readers here aren’t as smart anymore as they used to be? It doesn’t take a JD to see the flaw in my logic there. Thus, here’s a much-needed batch of recent highlights and hedlines to keep the incessant but important buzz in context … a semi-special link-dump, btw, brought to you by our new-good friends at LegalPokerSites.com:

First Black Friday Trial Date Set John Campos and Chad Elie, the Utah banker and PokerStars payment processor indicted for their role in online poker criminal activity, have a trial date in March … creating a tangible timeline for Black Friday cases and added pressure on the big fish the DOJ really wants — Isai Sheinberg, Ray Bitar, and Scott Tom. [Legal Poker Sites]

Barton Says Online Poker Bill Still Alive This Congress Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) gave a luncheon keynote at the DGLP, where he spelled out how his online poker bill is moving forward as a piece of stand-alone legislation and/or still could be absorbed into some omnibus bills. Pretty straight-forward, honest-sounding stuff as Barton even talks about his own live real-money play and admits to multi-accounting for play money on PokerStars. [Pokerati Soundcloud]

Adelson Balks at Readiness for Online Poker The poker masses got spun into a tizzy after Vegas politico Jon Ralston “reported” that Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson has been buzzing around DC that he is morally opposed to online gambling … and that age-verification technology isn’t ready yet. Ralston concludes that this could kill online poker’s chances in Congress as if Adelson alone is more powerful than the combined forces of Caesars, MGM, Steve Wynn, Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming, Michael Gaughan, et al. Quick to cry, some poker players have begun calling for a boycott of Venetian Poker. [Las Vegas Sun]

Nevada Regulations Almost Ready While so many chatter about complex details of future online poker, the Nevada Gaming Commission and State Gaming Control Board seem to be the only ones systematically moving forward with thorough, enforceable rules and regulations for online gaming. In one of the biggest overhauls to state gaming regs in history, they just released a whole bunch of revisions for licensure and suitable ownership that Big and Small casinos alike are paying close attention to. [gaming.NV.gov]

Fry Howie? Funny/sad, shortly after Black Friday I thought we might be seeing T-shirts that said “Free Howard!” not “Fry Howard!” But loyalty can be a fickle bitch when you eff up with someone else’s money. Hence this flash creation for players wishing to express their personal outrage against Full Tilt and Howard Lederer violently. [PokerListings]

UB Player Database Leaked Lots of offline debate over how and why nearly 3 million poker-player IDs leaked out. Work of a disgruntled employee or scuttling the ship before UB ultimately hits sea-floor? And will there be more such pressings of self-destruct? [Haley’s Poker Blog]

Rest o’World: Cyprus on Crackdown, South Africa’s Open-Market Mind, German Pre-unification Some of the other key political moves from the rest of the world, as the future of legal online poker (and gambling) actively takes shape … the mediterranean island that isn’t Malta doesn’t have moral opposition, they just want their cut (kinda like Kentucky) … while South Africa continues its progressive-minded movement from staunch opposition to tolerance to active support of online gambling … all while the German province of Schleswig-Holstein’s acceptance of new online poker rules is so big it actually moved some major market needles. [Legal Poker Sites]

Ivey’s new home game, German PokerStadia, and exciting news for UK Facebook gamblers.

This week we’re heading back to Macau – the Las Vegas of the Orient – to discover why Phil Ivey was really hanging out at the APPT. Here’s a clue: It has to do with playing poker for stupid amounts of money. Plus, a social media development that will surely plunge my homeland into an endless spiral of degeneracy or, alternatively, transform the nation into a utopia of Teutonic smugness. Depends on how the cards fall.

Megabucks in Macau

All eyes turned to the East last week, as the global poker media witnessed the long awaited return of Phil Ivey. Turns out, he’d been there all along, sat in a $1,300/$2,300 cash game chocked full of rich Chinese businessmen. Apparently ‘The Big Game’ has permanently moved continents and if the high rollers are still in town come 2013, they’ll be first in line for a 500 player tournament organized by Macau big wigs. The event, which has the support of local businesses, is mooted to feature an incredible $100 million prize pool. [Poker News]

PokerStars Join Soccer Brawl in Germany

PokerStars has recently joined soccer on the list of things the rest of the world enjoys more than Americans. To commemorate this fact, the world’s largest online poker site have recently announced a sponsorship deal with the German football team, VfB Lübeck. However, this not only a straightforward business arrangement. PokerStars have been vocal supporters of planned gambling legislation introduced by the state of Schleswig-Holstein, in which Lübeck is located. Rules which would fly in the face of those proposed by the German government. [CardPlayer]

Gambling on Facebook coming to the UK

Our final news nugget for today is undoubtedly the shiniest. Social networking megaliths Facebook have made detailed plans to provide real money online gambling in the UK. Soon, the denizens of this sceptred isle will be able to ‘like’ an inane photo of their gurning acquaintances and then stack off their entire bankroll all on the same platform. The likes of 888 are reportedly in talks to acquire a Facebook license, with FB credits being used in place of the pretend dollars we’ve been playing with up until now. [Tech Crunch]

At the end of this column I often say something like, ‘if I’m still here next week’ preceded by a flippant comment about one thing or another, but this time, I’m genuinely concerned for my well being. My fiancée has passed into another hemisphere for two months and there’s a very real chance that in seven days time I will be buried under my own ineptitude. So, if I’m still here next week…

Jihad Chetwie, the final suspect in the March 7th heist at EPT Berlin, turned himself in at Tegel airport after flying in from Beirut, Lebanon. Chetwie left the country shortly after the heist, but he could not handle living in Lebanon, and decided to turn himself in rather than being arrested in Lebanon.

News this morning from Germany that a third suspect has been arrested in connection with the armed robbery at EPT Berlin that took place two weeks ago today. According to the Associated Press, Mustafa Ucarkus, aged 20, was arrested at Tegel airport after his lawyer informed authorities of his whereabouts.

Earlier this week one member of the group of alleged thieves — a 21-year-old man of Turkish origin — turned himself in and identified his three accomplices. One, 20-year-old Ahmad el-Awayti, was arrested on Wednesday. The fourth member of the group, Jihad Chetwie (aged 19), remains at large.

Bild.de (translated from German) and Bluff Magazine (in English) are reporting that one of the suspects in the EPT Berlin robbery from two weeks ago turned himself in on Monday to German authorities. The police in Berlin released names and photographs of the three other suspected bandits: Mustafa Ucarakus, Jihad Chetwie and Ahmad El Awayti. The article in the German newspaper notes that the suspect mentioned they did receive help from someone on the inside as to where the money was stored and that the security staff was unarmed. More details to come as more news is available.

UPDATE: Bild.de reports that that German police have arrested Ahmad El Awayti.

Here’s some video from this afternoon’s attempted robbery at EPT Berlin:

Here’s a clip of an interview from German TV news:

A translation from 2+2 poster “B4RT3K” from the interview between the reporter and “Roman” the security guard in the video above:

Reporter: “We got one witness with us, Roman, you are from the security Team (Security-Kuhr), you were involved in this conflict, how can u describe what happened there ?”

Roman: “It was really scary, with how much brutality the gangsters were acting, I was just standing there minding my own business and securing the money, happy about the fact that the day was calm and nothing happened, suddenly there is shouting and screaming coming from the hallway and the people (gangsters) rush the cashier floor with huge brutality and even armed… it was really scary.”

Reporter: “You are injured, but you got to get hold of one of the gangsters, you were trying to get the money back from him… were you successful ?”

Roman: “Yeah, thank god, we were successful… we got a huge amount of the money back from the gangsters, one of the employees of the hotel helped me there, but we couldn’t secure the gangster because he got rescued by his friends.”

Reporter: “Which weapons were used ? We saw a machete, there were rumours about grenades, kalashnikovs, guns, pump-guns etc.?”

Roman: “I can only verify the machete and a hand-held gun.”

Reporter: “So you really tried to get hold of the gangsters even though u were unarmed and they were armed with guns?”

Roman: “Yeah, in the first moment I didn’t think of the fact that they will use the guns against me, and I just wanted to stop them from what they were doing in that particular moment.”

Reporter: “Brave.”

UPDATE: Here’s another PokerNews update with audio from a police spokesman:

“An armed robbery by six men took place today at EPT Berlin. Nobody was seriously injured. We hope to re-start all events at 4pm local time. A police investigation is under way. If you have video footage or photographs that could help the police, please contact the EPT organizers as soon as possible.”

UPDATE #2, make that 5pm local time for a possible restart.

UPDATE #3, the 1,000 Euro event that started today was canceled, while the main event finally resumed around 6:00pm local time, but the EPT Live webcast has been canceled. Also, here’s a breaking news article from Pokernews along with a video update:

Preface
You might wonder why there is this page. Well, I also have the services of Michael Schuett, alias adopted USAG24 Inc. and has been cheated a lot of money. Meanwhile, there are quite a lot of people who feel the same way.

The people who have resisted and have published their case as the Internet, were then put massive pressure from Michael Schuett and most have agreed to the cancellation of their websites. This of course happened after agreeing a settlement, for example, was paid some money from Michael Schuett so that the matter is created from the world. Most of these people have only received a fraction of the lost money again and had to return the sites to take from the net.

Thus Michael Schuett is still continuing its BetrÃ¼gerein. I will not comment on such a comparison and the money had already been written off as dearly as I will have to deal with this person any more. However, I would keep everyone else from dealing with that person and any company business.

Your USAG24-dupe

Now for all we know this is just one disgruntled ex-colleague. But he’s had a twitter feed set up for the past three months just to track the whereabouts of this one person. @usag24betrug has three followers.

And here’s a half-hour lifestyle documentary on Michael Schuett, apparently chronicling his move to Florida:

Very strange. Might online poker sites be a victim of a fraud here? Or just tangled up with the wrong guy? I’m still not sure what to make of it all, but I do get the sense now that this situation may turn out to be about more than online poker …

Here’s a couple of hands from this year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas.

The most recent hand came from the final table of the World Cup of Poker VI yesterday, as 2008 November Niner Darus Suharto is the victim of one of the worst slowrolls ever. Note: As this is a team competition, players are allowed to call a time-out in the middle of the hand.

The slowrolling came back to bite the Germans, as they were eventually eliminated by Canada, but it was the team from Taiwan Chinese Taipei who took down the title.

$50k HORSE Final Table, It Keeps Going, and Going, and Going…

It’s 9:15am PT, but the final table of the $50,000 HORSE is still going with David Bach and John Hanson playing heads-up with Bach holding a slim chip lead. Erik Sagstrom finished in 3rd, Vitaly Lunkin was eliminated in 4th, Huck Seed finished in 5th and Ville Wahlbeck finished in 6th place. Unless Wahlbeck makes a deep run in the Main Event, Jeff Lisandro appears to have locked up the WSOP Player of the Year with Wahlbeck a close second. For those of you who have followed the nearly 17-hour final table from beginning to end, God bless you.

“Whackjob Surprise” Goes Deep in $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw

Nine players remain in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball when play resumes at 2pm. Here’s how the remaining players will be seated:

The reason for the title of this section is that it was a comment made regarding Julie Schneider by Daniel Negreanu on his Twitter. He would later add the following upon finding out she read his Twitter: “Apparently the lady reads my twitter. Oops lol. Oh well, when I sat down I swore she was a little off or slow. My bad!”. Negreanu eventually finished in 16th.

Halpern Lawyers Up in Stud 8

New Orleans attorney David Halpern defeated William Kohler heads-up to take down the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better picking up his first WSOP bracelet along with $159,048.

Piesert Gets Bracelet for Dessert

The country of Germany gets its second WSOP bracelet winner with Jorg Piesert taking down the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem title along with $506,800, defeating Jason DeWitt in heads-up play. After going 50 events without a win, Germany wins on consecutive days, following Carsten Joh’s win in the $1,500 NL event Monday night.

Final Day of Final $1,500 NL

Sergey Konkin, who may also be Sergey Pomerantsev as Konkin’s name didn’t appear on the Day 1 chip counts, is the chip leader (1,400,000) with 28 players remaining in the $1,500 NL Holdem Spectacular when play resumes at 1pm. The most notable name of the remaining 28 is Vivek Rajkumar at just 216,000.

The final table is available on ESPN360, www.bluffmagazine.com/live and wsop.pkr.com

Peisert Looking to Give Germany Bracelet #2

Jorg Peisert leads the final six players at the final table of the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem. Michael Katz, Jason DeWitt, Benjamin Gilbert, Michael Noda and Jason Somerville make up the remaining field.

Kohler Looking to Sink Halpern in Stud 8

William Kohler and David Halpernare headsup for a bracelet in the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better with Halpern currently holding the lead. Congrats go to Matt Savage, who finished in 5th, and a belated congrats to Norman Chad, for his 32nd place finish earlier today.

Boivin Buoyant in $1,500 NL

Day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem has about 130 players remaining, trying to whittle the field down as much as they can before the 3am deadline, which will certainly create a long day 3 tomorrow. Don Boivin (401,000) appears to be the chip leader at this time, with Vivek Rajkumar (115,000), Alex Bolotin (88,000), Richard Lee (64,000), Raymond Rahme (54,000), some of the notables remaining.

Libson Looking Live in Triple Draw

Brad Libson (164,000) leads the remaining 33 players in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, of which 24 will make the money. Notables remaining include: Abe Mosseri, John Juanda, Jerrod Ankenman, Hasan Habib, Allen Kessler and Julie Schneider. They’ll be playing down to the final 7 players or the 3am deadline, whichever comes first.

$5k NL Six-Handed

The final prelim of this year’s WSOP, the $5,000 NL Holdem Six-Handed event drew a field of 928 entries, of which 384 return from the dinner break. The winner will take down just over $1,000,000, which is the third largest first place prize of this year’s WSOP, following only the 40k NL and $50k HORSE.

Unfortunately, there’s no established chip leader, but if you head to www.wsop.com one may be better established during the evening. Also check out Pokerati to see if Dan will have some exciting news, like the Jack Link’s Stacked Jacks promotion.

Final Table Set in 50k HORSE

The final table of the $50,000 HORSE was established early Tuesday morning, with Gus Hansen the unfortunate final table bubble boy. Here’s how the final table will be seated, with streaming coverage starting around 2pm PT at www.espn360.com and wsop.pkr.com:

While Lunkin and Wahlbeck will be trying to win their 2nd WSOP bracelet this year, Wahlbeck will lead the WSOP Player of the Year race with just two tournaments remaining if he finishes first.

Carsten Joh Wins One for Germany

Carsten Joh took down the next to last $1,500 NL Holdemtournament picking up a WSOP bracelet and $664,426, besting Andrew Chen in heads-up play.

DeWitt DeLeader in Triple Chance

Jason Dewitt (1,599,000) leads the remaining field of 16 in the $3,000 Triple Chance as they play down to a winner starting at 1pm this afternoon. Among those trailing behind Dewitt: Alex Millar (1,006,000), Karga Holt (715,000), Jason Somerville (320,000), Max Greenwood (294,000), Eric “rizen” Lynch (230,000) and An Tran (216,000).

Christensen Leads Final $1500 NL Event

Jon Christensen of Oslo, Norway leads the field when day 2 of the $1,500 NL Holdem returns Tuesday afternoon with 160,800 in chips with action resuming at 2pm. Among the notables among the 397 returning players: Alexandre Gomes (76,000), Raymond Rahme (51,800), Dean Hamrick (39,500), Richard Lee (and his San Antonio sweatshirt – 34,300) and Vivek Rajkumar (31,800). 297 players will get paid over the next two days as they get close to the final table by the 3am deadline.

Tuesday’s Tournament

The final preliminary tournament of this year’s WSOP starts at 12 noon with the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max event, won last year by Joe Commisso in a field of 805 for over $900,000. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 865 today, which could delay the start of Day 2 in the $1,500 NL and $2,500 Triple Draw Lowball events.

Live updates of the last day of six tournaments begins around noon at www.wsop.com and Pokerati will surely have all sorts of stuff during the other parts of Tuesday.